Elevating means for car doors



2 Sheets-Sheet l o .....UHJJIINJ 1, m N J. o o o o o @gw/@o O 0 m v o. G e e o T lll -i 0 Oct. 13, 1931. A. WASBERG ET AL ELEVATING MEANS FOR CAR DOORS Filed July 5, 1929 Oct. 13, 1931. A. ,WAsBr-:RG ET AL ELEVATING MEANS FOR CAR DOORS Filed July 5. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Patented Oct. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT oF-FICE AXEL WASBIEBG AND KENNETH Il'. TOBIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS T0 CAMEL COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION F ILLINOIS ELEVATING MEANS FOR CACR. DOORS Application filed Iuly 5, 1929. Serial No. 375,978.

This invention relates to. elevating means for car doors or the like and concerns itself with a structure whereby the door will be automaticall lowered into frictional engagement with tiie track when it is either in its open or closed position and in which the door cannot be raised or lowered at any intermediate position.

The invention comprises the novel structure and combination of parts hereinafter Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken upon the line III-III of Figure 1 looking in the the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken upon the line IV--IV of Figure 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken upon the line V-V of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through the left hand end of one'of the roller housings.

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view taken' upon an enlarged scale through the right hand end of one of the roller housings. 4 In connection with this invention, there is shown' a sliding door 1 which is provided with a. support 2 at its lowerend which is in the form of an angle member riveted or secured to the door. This angle member 2 is adapted to rest u on the track 3 that extends along the edge otP the door opening as is well known in the art. Adjacent each end portion of the door there is secured a. roller housing 4. Each roller housing has an outer de- 5 pending wall 4a provided with a groove 5' and an inner depending wall 4b having a rabbet `6 cut in its lower portion. It will be noted that the ends of the groove 5 and the rabbet 6 in the two Walls of the different housings curve upwardly at their ends as indicated at 5a and 6a respectively. Between the upturnedends, the grooves extend horizontally. A roller 7 is mounted in each housing 4 and is guided in its travelling movement by the aforementioned grooves 5 and 6. To this end each roller 7 is provided with oppositely extending journals or trunnions 8 which travel in the closed groove 5 and the open groove 6.

At the right hand end of each roller housing, there is pivoted a dog 9 having a heel 9a adapted for extending into the path of the roller in said housing. Upon the left hand end of each roller housing there is pivoteda second dog l() which is provided with a, heel 10a which is adapted to be swung into the path of the roller in the housing. The upper ends of the dogs 9 and 10 are pivoted to a longitudinally extending angle bar 11 as shown more clearly in Figures 1 and 2.

A lever 12 is pivoted at its lower lend to a stud 13 which is secured to the door 1 and at a point slightly above its lower end it is pivoted to a stud 14 carried by the dog actuating bar'll.

The lengths of the grooves 5 and 6 are so Y designed as to cause the rollers to travel the length thereof during the opening movement of the door or during the closing movement thereof. When the rollers reach the ends of the slots or grooves which afford guideways for the journals 8 the latter will ascend into the curved portions of said guideways with the result that the door will automatically drop to engage the angle member 2 with the track 3. When the door is in its closed position it is in frictional engagement with the track 3 as shown in Figure 1 and it-Will be noted that in this position the journals on the rollers 7 are located in the right hand ends of the guideways above the horizontal tportions of said guideways. To elevate the oor and support the same upon the rollers 7, the operator will shift the lever 12 to the position shown in Figure 2. This movement of the Y y A v lever 12 will cause the dogs 9 to kick the rollers out of the elevated portions of the guideways and onto the horizontal portions thereof. The door may now be rolled to its open position and when it reaches its open position the rollers 7 will be at the left hand ends of the guideways 5 and 6 with the result that the ournals of the rollers may enter the curved portions 5a and 6a and allow the door to drop into frictional engagement with the rail 3. To close the door, the operator will swing the lever 12 in the opposite direction so as to cause the dogs 10 to kick the rollers from the curved portions 5a and 6a of the guideways into the horizontal portions thereof,

when the door will again be resting upon its rollers and may be moved to its closed position and during which time the rollers 7 will have traveled to the opposite ends of the guideways allowing the door to drop into rictional engagement with the rail or track 3 in its closed position.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that this invention automatically causes the door to drop into frictional engagement upon the track 3 at the ends of its movement consequently when the door is closed orwhen it is opened to its full extent, it will be supported directly upon the track 3. At a point intermediate its opening and closing positions, the door will be supported upon the rollers 7, however, if the car should suddenly move and cause the door to travel either toward its full opened or full closed positions, it will immediately drop into frictional engagement with the track 3 at the end of such movement and thereby eliminate any tendencies of the door from lying off the track.

We are aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and we, therefore, do not purpose limiting the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination with a track, of a door having frictional means and rolling means for alternately enga 'ng said track, guides for retaining said ro ling means for relative movement with res ect to the door, said guides having terminal upwardly directed oisets for providing relative movement between said door and rollers, dogs pivoted adjacent said offsets and means for simultaneously operating said dogs for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a track, of a door havingl frictional means for engaging said track, ousings upon said door, each having a pair of longitudinall extending guide ways. with upwardly o set terminals, rollers mounted in said housings and having journals engaging in said ideways and adapted to be seated insaid o set portions when said 

